A perfect 10: Boyne City's Rambler Sports Network celebrates a decade

BOYNE CITY — We'll often find our biggest growth when we push ourselves to levels beyond where our own expectations and goals were set at.

Ask anyone involved with Boyne City’s Rambler Sports Network (RSN) over the last 10 years and they’ll be the first to stand behind that sentiment.

After all, RSN itself has grown to a level unforeseen by those first starting out in the program and above and beyond what many thought was even possible with a student operated broadcast network.

On Friday at Boyne City High School, in front of a packed crowd of high school, middle school and elementary school students, parents, teachers and administrators, RSN put on yet another production, this time celebrating those 10 years.

The hour and a half production was complete with highlights, guest appearances, a live monologue and more, all showing off the best of what RSN has become and brought to the Boyne City community.

“I never would have thought 10 years ago that we would be able to go through and select everything that we did and we left a ton out. I’m going to get complaints,” Boyne City video imaging teacher and RSN director Randy Calcaterra said with a laugh after Friday's production. “To realize you have that much; of course you’re going to get the touchdowns and dunks and all of that, but what’s really special is the feeling of community and everything that goes along with it. It’s so much more than just those events. I don’t think I ever thought we’d get to that point and that’s super cool.”

The truth is, nobody could have seen what the Rambler Sports Network would evolve into. With each new year and group of students and each season, the vision changes and grows.

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A vision takes off 

RSN first began out of Calcaterra’s visual imaging class, which once put on an end-of-year movie for the community, though it grew into something more and more that wasn’t sustainable for the program.

So, a pivot was made to focus on Rambler Athletics and a SportsCenter-style highlight show formed. From there, Calcaterra and student Andrew Deneau came up with the idea of a live broadcast and play-by-play setup for fans.

As things tend to happen with Calcaterra at the helm, it just took off from there. The way he looks at it, though, Boyne City has just been the perfect environment for its success.

“It is so unique to what we have here,” he said. “If a school was any bigger size or smaller size, this wouldn’t be possible. There are so many factors that make it in this perfect sweet spot of being able to do this here. There are so many things that are unique that I didn’t realize early on. The ISD support of this. All the factors that add up together make it this strange diamond.”

That support from the Charlevoix-Emmet ISD into the program has been one of the biggest factors, with people like Career and Technical Education Director Jim Rummer helping get RSN to where it is today.

“I’ve been in this position for 17 years, so I’ve had a birds-eye view watching this progress,” said Rummer on RSN. “It’s been phenomenal. I don’t know another high school program like this in the state of Michigan, anywhere.

“We’re very fortunate to have our millage support this too. If you look at the equipment that they get to use, it’s state of the art and business recognized. I think that helps too, that there’s not a huge divide when they graduate. We’re super happy to have a millage that supports the program, as well as all our other CTE programs.”

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Raising the bar, pushing limits 

It probably would have been pretty easy for Calcaterra and the students that put on RSN in those early years to get complacent with the success of the program.

They introduced the 30-minute highlight show, evolved into live coverage and even came up with hilarious commercials that were a spinoff on the popular ‘This is SportsCenter’ ads.

But, if there’s been one thing more noticeable than anything with RSN in 10 years – which was more than apparent Friday – it’s that there is no getting comfortable.

Cameras have been attached to backboards and volleyball net posts, there have been drones flying and video boards installed and even live broadcasts from a McDonalds drive-through to test the wireless capabilities.

Each season has brought new elements, from the ‘Manning Cast’ spinoff during the live production of a Rambler basketball game, to bringing in Boyne City native and Olympian Kaila Kuhn live from the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, there’s been so much for Calcaterra and his students to be proud of.

“I am extremely proud with the knowledge that the presence of RSN and all the ancillary stuff that comes along with it, has been a part of the success of all of the moments that were shared today,” said Calcaterra. “I am well aware, as both an athlete and a coach, that environmental, energy, support, spotlights can and do play a huge role in being a push for athletes that can get them to be able to achieve above and beyond what they otherwise think is possible.

“Knowing that the presence of RSN likely was an influence in those moments is incredible and I also feel demonstrates the power of what we are doing.”

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Lessons for life 

The power of what RSN has done for countless students over a 10-year stretch is perhaps its greatest gift to the community.

Calcaterra knows most of the students who go through the program won’t head into broadcasting or even anything in a similar field, but he also knows everyone who has and will go through the program will gain life skills not taught everywhere.

“They’re getting out of it everything that they put into it,” he said. “There are certain ones every year that put in an incredible amount and they’re getting an incredible amount back. What they put in, they’re getting back out. It’s a very non-traditional environment. We’ve got to assign tasks and we’re not all doing the same thing, but it comes together as a team. And that’s life. That’s basketball, that’s drama. You’re working together as a team to do these kind fo things. That’s the most important part. Probably 99 percent of them won’t go into this field, but they’re skills that are transferable to whatever they do go into.”

Boyne City student Sadie Kroondyk, a technical director and editor of Friday’s production, is one of many who can echo Calcaterra’s sentiment of team, knowing everything it took to produce Friday’s show.

“It’s just such a big thing that you don’t understand it when you’re working on bits and pieces of it, then you put it all together and it turns into this amazing thing that you didn’t even know could happen,” said Kroondyk. “The fact that we can take all these clips from years ago and put them into something we can use now is incredible to me.”

The same is true for Kaydence Whennen, who worked on motion graphics, graphics and lighting design for Friday.

“All the nitpicky things you have to do to just make sure it it’s perfect, it really just shows the dedication we have as a group and team in general,” said Whennen.

Whennen plans to head into graphic design at Oakland University when she graduates, but for Kroondyk, it might be something totally unrelated to what she’s gaining from RSN.

That’s been the biggest superpower of the program.

“There’s so much knowledge that I’m gaining and can use to further my career in something like this,” Kroondyk said. “But even if I don’t want to go into something like this, I can still use it in something different.”

Where to next? 

The question that constantly burns in the minds of many involved with RSN: What’s next?

The best answer that can actually be given: Nobody knows.

What RSN has evolved into and the success of many who have come out of the program – including Deneau, who currently works in the film industry with visual effects for such movies as Avengers: Endgame, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and more – is something that couldn’t be envisioned if the question was asked 10 years ago.

Calcaterra hope the envelope continues to be pushed, because he’s proud each and every day working with his dedicated students.

“Using the power of media and creating content that effects change and or elicits a desired reaction with an audience, in this case the desired reaction is community pride, school involvement and athletic success,” he said. “That’s really special and it’s really cool to know that’s the case.”

Rummer himself asks the question and is likely to keep offering the support needed to get closer to that answer.

“It’s 10 years already,” Rummer said. “It makes you wonder what’s next? I don’t know what’s next, but knowing with Randy at the helm, it’s going to be really special.”

Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Boyne City's Rambler Sports Network reaches 10-year mark of raising the bar